Connect with TRB

Seat Belts: A Follow-Up Study of Their Use Under Normal Driving Conditions

This study, conducted in the summer of 1968 as follow-up research to the original 1967 survey, was concerned with the actual use of seat belts by drivers observed when they passed a slow moving panel truck in which the researchers rode. A total of 1,031 vehicles was observed, but final calculations were based on the 868 cars in which judgments were made on eight variables. Compared to the 1967 survey results, the follow-up data indicate an increase in belt usage over the past year. For the newer, belt-equipped vehicles (1964 and later), the percent~ge of usage (35.8%) is approximately 14% higher than the corresponding 1967 statistic (31.5%). As in the earlier study, this usage was related to several factors. First, the drivers of the newer, belt-equipped cars were more likely to be observed wearing a belt than the drivers of older cars (35.8% vs. 9.3%). Second, drivers of out-of-state vehicles had a higher usage percentage than drivers of in-state vehicles (38.1% vs. 28.0%). Third, white drivers were more likely to be belt users than non-white drivers (33.0% vs. 11.1%). Fourth, men were again found to have a significantly higher percentage of usage than women (34.7% of the men vs. 20.1% of the women). In addition, the older drivers were found to be wearers in a higher percentage of the cases than the young or middle age drivers (48.8% vs. 31.6% and 29.3%, respectively). Checks of shoulder harness usage indicate that an estimated 30% - 35% of the drivers with the device available to them were using it. Although there has been an increase in usage over the 1967 study results, still approximately two out of every three people with belts available do not wear them. Much effective work is needed on behalf of this device.